This one takes some esplanin'

I just found some old photos of a skydive that "went bad" but was still pretty funny...

Okay so first of all, Skydive San Marcos throws a huge three day halloween party every year... and it's one of those deals where we have hundreds of people and extra aircraft, including tailgate aircraft that you can take all manner of toys out of...

There's that Christmas for idiots thing again, only this time the idiots get to dress up!

Needless to say, things "occasionally" get a bit wild. So, we decided to do a few "in costume" jumps...

On the jump before this one, I actually Rodeo-ed a guy in a chicken suit, while wearing a penguin suit. (Two flightless birds, in freefall, get it?!) What's a rodeo dive you ask? Think Dr. Strangelove, the guy sitting on the bomb at the end?

Too young to remember that movie? I exited the aircraft riding the chicken piggyback, and sat on his back in freefall, for 11,000 feet...

Yeah, the dive went great, and we wanted photos, but our camera flyer messed up, missed his cue, and couldn't keep up.

What now? Well, another buddy wanted to do another toy jump, and we promised him we would "after this one" so, what the hell, toy jump in costume...

Now keep in mind we had already jumped this gater four times that day.

The last two were close to perfect toy jumps. Kept the thing upright and stable, and were able to steer it around the sky... We named the gater "Wally" and he really flew great.


So, off we go into the wild blue yonder, and ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH MY FRIENDS, laughing our butts off of course... If we look calm and confident it's because this actually falls within our definition of "NORMAL."

Problem is that pool floaties were never designed to tolerate the kind of G forces placed on them by 200-ish mph aerobatics...

Wally was tired! We didn't realize just how tired until we made that first step out the door. Fortunately this camera flyer got the shot, catching it the instant the seam popped, and the priceless looks on all our faces (especially mine, because I was supposed to be steering this thing!) When we realized this just went very bad. (If you look in the center of the picture, back middle of the gater, you'll see the spot where the seam exploded!)

ROFLMAO! Here it comes...are you ready for it, Mark?

WHAT exactly is the Penguin doing to the Crocodile here? :54:

Your perception of "normal" is quite... worrying. Hahahaha!

You and your friends are crazy! But I can see that you all have a really good time skydiving. I don't know if it's something that I'd ever try. Must be insanely scary the first go around!

LMFAO, that's just awesome! LOL

JerseyWendy said:

ROFLMAO! Here it comes...are you ready for it, Mark?

WHAT exactly is the Penguin doing to the Crocodile here? :54:

Click to expand...

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! High comedy! Wendy, you are a nut!

To give you an appropriate analogy. We've all blown up a balloon at some point and just let the end go. The thing flops wildly around the room, and when it runs out of air, it just suddenly drops...

Well, now imagine you've got three people SITTING ON TOP OF that balloon when you let it go...

Then throw in an 18 knot tail wind aloft for a little extra speed and turbulence...

Yeah... kinda like that!

Wow! All great pics, but the 2nd one on your last post is breathtaking!

Now, all that really meant was that it was going to be a wild ride... at first.

But when my buddies got off the thing, I ended up in a wrap!

Hogtied by the toy!

How do you know when you're bro is really a bro?

Check out how fast Super Chicken speed dives in and tracks along side me, in case I can't manage it on my own... THAT'S A BRO!






Fact of the matter is, I had plenty of altitude to unwrap myself. Plan B was to just land it like that and slide in on my butt, because I didn't want to take a chance that the toy would somehow get lodged in my parachute and collapse end cells (which would have put me into a spin), or affect the steering or handling of the chute... which would have made it difficult to land. Stay calm. Use your head. A stand up landing would have ended up in a face plant. Land on your heels, sit down, and slide it in on your butt. Not a work of art, but certainly the best choice for "not getting hurt."

I could have landed like that if I had to. I just calmly "back flew" and carefully unwrapped it. (I had enough time to do this ONCE!)

BUT it's nice to know that Super Chicken had my back!!!

Oh, and keep in mind that all this is happening at speeds in the 190-205 mph zone...

So, you've got about 30 seconds of air time to play.

In freefall, time often slows to miliseconds.

Anansi said:

Your perception of "normal" is quite... worrying. Hahahaha!

You and your friends are crazy! But I can see that you all have a really good time skydiving. I don't know if it's something that I'd ever try. Must be insanely scary the first go around!

Click to expand...

"NORMAL" is a subjective concept.

We've been known to push the envelope a tad. But that's "normal" for us...

Birdman666 said:

Anansi said:

Your perception of "normal" is quite... worrying. Hahahaha!

You and your friends are crazy! But I can see that you all have a really good time skydiving. I don't know if it's something that I'd ever try. Must be insanely scary the first go around!

Click to expand...

"NORMAL" is a subjective concept.

We've been known to push the envelope a tad. But that's "normal" for us...

Click to expand...

Hahaha! I hear you, Mark. Normal is very much subjective. I was only teasing, not criticizing. Besides, I have my share of areas where my own perception of normal might not fit very neatly into the "cookie-cut" framework, you know?

And besides, cookie-cutter normal is overrated, anyway. Lol!

Anansi said:

Birdman666 said:

Anansi said:

Your perception of "normal" is quite... worrying. Hahahaha!

You and your friends are crazy! But I can see that you all have a really good time skydiving. I don't know if it's something that I'd ever try. Must be insanely scary the first go around!

Click to expand...

"NORMAL" is a subjective concept.

We've been known to push the envelope a tad. But that's "normal" for us...

Click to expand...

Hahaha! I hear you, Mark. Normal is very much subjective. I was only teasing, not criticizing. Besides, I have my share of areas where my own perception of normal might not fit very neatly into the "cookie-cut" framework, you know?

And besides, cookie-cutter normal is overrated, anyway. Lol!

Click to expand...

"INTOLERABLY BORING!" Can't do "normal normal" for an extended period of time. I'd slash my wrists...